【正文】 , the lack of awareness regarding the consulting institutions, the development of business plans that do not meet the requirements of the lenders or investors, the reduced negotiating skills in relation with capital suppliers and the insufficient guarantees available. In regard to the second category of obstacles, they refer in particular to the reduced availability of funding in some cases, excessive guarantees imposed by some banks for SMEs loans, the high cost of SMEs’ financial consultancy services, corruption, bureaucracy. Starting from the fact that the SME sector has a key role in the economic and social development of a country, in most countries supporting this sector has bee a primary objective of the governments. In order to improve the access to finance for SMEs, the public authorities from different countries have adopted a series of measures, depending on the particularities of each country, which aimed (International Finance Corporation 2020: 26) at improving the juridical and regulatory framework, developing the financing instruments for SMEs and direct interventions on the market in order to stimulate SMEs’ financing (for example, by granting loans through certain state institutions, providing guarantees for loans to entrepreneurs, providing grant financial allocations etc.). The significant importance of easy access to finance for enterprises, particularly for SMEs, and especially in the context of the current crisis, is highlighted by the fact that approximately two thirds of the EU business support measures, adopted by the European Commission and set out through the European Economic Recovery Plan aims to facilitate the access to finance (EuropeanCommission 2020: 79). Improving the access to finance for SMEs still remains a concern and also a challenge for the authorities from the national, European and international level. For example, at EU level, through the Review of the Small Business Act (SBA) for Europe are set out new measures to improve the access to finance for SMEs, including facilitating the access for SMEs to structural funds through reducing reporting requirements, establishing the “credit ombudsman” in order to facilitate the dialogue between SMEs and credit institutions, avoiding double taxation through tax legislation, that would hamper the crossborder venture capital investments, which play a significant role. A number of studies, especially the empirical ones, highlight the crucial importance of the degree of financial development of a country for SMEs’ access to finance. Therefore, the measures taken by authorities in order to support the SMEs’ access to finance should focus on ensuring a high 436 degree of financial development, which would ensure a greater availability of financing for businesses. Concretely, the authorities should adopt measures aimed at the seven pillars monly used to measure the degree of financial development, namely institutional environment, business environment, financial stability, banking financial services, nonbanking financial services, financial markets and financial access (World Economic Forum 2020: 5). The easy access to finance for SMEs has a significant importance for the creation of new businesses, the growth and development of already existing ones, which, in their turn, foster the economic and social development of a country. Moreover, under crisis conditions, supporting the access to finance for SMEs is vital because these firms can contribute to the recovery of the national economies. However, most surveys emphasize that SMEs report, consistently, the access to finance as one of the most important obstacles to their functioning and development. The difficulties that SMEs face when they are seeking to obtaine the necessary funding resources are related both to the entrepreneurs and the economic environment from each country, as well as to the existing regulatory and institutional framework. In order to mitigate these difficulties, the measures taken by public authorities should focus on increasing financial development, which would ensure greater availability of financing for businesses and thus economic growth. Given the reduced availability and even lack of statistical data regarding SMEs’ financing in various countries, including Romania, we consider that policy makers need to focus their efforts in order to the shape and monitor a series of significant indicators, such as the share of loans granted to SMEs, based on their size, experience and sectors of activity, that would be useful for public authorities, creditors and investors.